CityMusic Cleveland tuning up for new season and new era

Updated October 18, 2013 at 5:23 PM;Posted October 17, 2013 at 9:00 AM

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Composer-conductor Avner Dorman kicks off his tenure as music director of CityMusic Cleveland next week with concerts featuring his own "Concerto Grosso" and all five of Mozart's Violin Concertos
(Gus Chan, The Plain Dealer)

Next week isn’t just the beginning of a new season for CityMusic Cleveland. It’s the beginning of a whole new era.

Between the first performances under new music director Avner Dorman and some of the most intriguing programs around, the chamber orchestra is poised to heighten its already strong impact.

“If it sounds like a good, original idea, we just go with it,” said Rebecca Schweigert Mayhew, the group’s principal oboe and director of education. “With an organization this nimble, it really is possible to do things like that.”

Start – where else? – at the beginning, with next week’s season-opening concerts. Unusual in the utmost, the programs exemplify the creativity CityMusic will display over the coming months.

Rather than present the same program five times, as per normal, the group will instead feature a different one of Mozart’s five Violin Concertos at each concert. Rachel Barton Pine will play the concertos, and Dorman will surround them with a rare Vivaldi Concerto for clarinets and oboes, Schubert’s little-known Symphony No. 3 and his own Concerto Grosso.

On the occasion of his debut as music director, “My thinking was to give as many solos, to highlight as many people as possible,” Dorman explained. “I wanted to give the musicians a place to express themselves.”

Things return to normal with the second set of concerts, Dec. 4-8. “Normal,” in the sense that the music won’t vary over the course of the week.

The program itself hardly counts as typical. In lieu of traditional holiday fare, the orchestra will offer Hummel’s E-Major Trumpet Concerto (featuring principal trumpet Mark Maliniak) and waltzes and soprano arias by Johann Strauss Jr., all under the baton of Stefan Willich, conductor of the Cleveland-based World Doctors Orchestra.

“It’ll be a different kind of holiday concert,” Dorman said, noting that Viennese waltzes are “difficult to feel. It’s music with a lot of complexity.”

With spring comes the most eye-popping program of the season. On concerts March 12 to 16, the group will partner with Refugee Services Collaborative in celebrating the music and people of Cleveland’s international diaspora.

Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony anchors the program, but the highlights will be surely be a solo cello piece by Cambodian composer Chinary Ung and Dan Visconti’s “Fleeing,” a percussion concerto weaving together the stories and musical styles of refugees from 16 countries.

Conductor James Feddeck will preside over performances featuring Silk Road Ensemble percussionist Shane Shanahan and narrator Ali Alhaddad. Those eager for more will also have access to related chamber music and educational concerts, and a program at the City Club of Cleveland.

“We’re always looking for ways of involving other communities,” said Mayhew. “This allows us to reach out to all kinds of audience members who might never have heard of us.”

Dorman returns for the last program of the season, a collaboration May 14-18 with the vocal ensemble Quire Cleveland. This time, though, there’s just one, large work on the bill: Schubert’s Mass No. 6.

None of Schubert’s Masses can be said to be well-known or performed with any regularity. Still, in Dorman’s opinion, the Sixth ranks as not only worthy but also as the best of Schubert -- and the ideal end to a remarkable season.

“I just love the piece so much,” Dorman gushed. “It’s so beautiful all the time. It’s the most complete Schubert experience I can think of.”